# An odd non-link

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-odd-non-link/90505>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 30, 2001, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-odd-non-link/90505 "2001-10-30T12:59:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-odd-non-link/90505/1 "2001-10-30T12:59:37Z")

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In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=96137) I included a url tag in my OP that didn’t get linked correctly. Evidently brackets within a link screws it up? Let’s try:

Is [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [[this]](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [[this]](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [this[this]](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [[this]this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [this[this]this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [this [] this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [this [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/) a link?

Is [this] this]([http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/)) a link?

Bingo! The presence of a left bracket within the text of a url tag prevents the conversion to a link. Explanation?

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**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-odd-non-link/90505/2 "2001-10-30T13:19:46Z")

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If vB code is anything like HTML, the left bracket indicates a tag opening. Whatever’s interpreting the vB code may be expecting a vB command to follow. It doesn’t know you meant to use a bracket in a non-vB sense.

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**Author:** ![zut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zut/32/2875_2.png) [@zut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zut)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-odd-non-link/90505/3 "2001-10-30T16:53:04Z")

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Possibly, **Crusoe** ,

But _[this]_ is in italics, as is _[this_ and _this]_  
and **[this]** is in bold  
and [this] is underlined…  
and [sub][subscript]?[/sub] Check.  
and [sup][superscript]?[/sup] Check.  
and [sym][symbol]?[/sym] Check.

Seems that only the url tag is affected by the presence of brackets.

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**Author:** ![Hombre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2001, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-odd-non-link/90505/4 "2001-10-31T08:49:19Z")

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I don’t know about these things but…  
in one of my post I did everything right and I could not get the proper link coding, so (confused) I just started adding stuff til it acted right. Don’t remember the post but it (eventually) looked some thing like this:

{url=“[http://www.xxx.com](http://www.xxx.com)”} } link {/url}

(Except instead of { } and no spaces) Probably just a ‘glitch’?  
Oh, and my ‘double’ or second " ] " didn’t show on the final…FWIW.